Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to rail car end closures protecting the car against unauthorized entry and undesirable movement of objects contained in the car, and more particularly relates to a two door arrangement of the end closure.
The prior art is replete with various end closures for a railway car. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,563 discloses an end closure comprising two sliding doors which move between closed and open positions. Upon opening of the doors, each door moves into an open space on the outer side of the rail car through a vertical opening in the side wall. Each door includes an arcuate laterally outer portion and a straight laterally inner portion attached tangent to the laterally inner edge of the arcuate portion. Each door is supported to ride on an arcuate track having the same radius of curvature as the arcuate portion of the door. The door is supported on the track by rollers attached solely to the arcuate portion.
The opening in the side wall provides an undesirable degree of access to the interior of the rail car from outside, placing the contents of the rail car in jeopardy of damage from vandalism and other outside forces. In addition, support of the door on rollers only on the arcuate portion results in a relatively weak support of the laterally inward portions of the doors.
The extension of the door through the side wall presents problems with respect to support of the required ladder at the end of the car. In the prior art, the ladder is supported by a brace beam connected to its top end. Because the door is taller than the height of the brace beam, a slot is cut in the door to allow it to open. This slot weakens the laterally outward upper corner of the door, which may be bent back to gain access to the interior of the car.